The Identification of Trafficking the Foreign ‘other’ Female in Roman Conquest Iconography (1st c. B.C. -2nd c. A.D.) (original) (raw)

Identifying the Traffic in Captive Women on Roman Conquest Iconography: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Conference: Ancient Rape Cultures: Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian; Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, 27-28 October, 2022

In Roman conquest iconography, the captive woman was a potent image to reflect and reinforce the power of Roman rule and expansion and signalled the complete destruction of the non-Roman family. Wartime rape gestures depicted on captive women have been recognised by scholars as metaphors for the penetration of foreign lands and peoples by Rome. However, there has been no analysis from the perspective of sex trafficking or an evaluation of how wartime rape was used to define the captive woman in a plurality of ways. What has yet to be fully understood is the purpose of depicting wartime rape gestures, how the Roman audience consumed messages of sexual violence, and what these depictions reveal about the lived experiences of captive women. By analysing gestures and applying feminist film theory to the image, we can better understand the imperialist discourse and how this specific category of imagery was used to measure masculinity. Additionally, wartime rape theory is applied to the specific battles commemorated on the monuments to ascertain the level of brutality afforded to the depicted women and if the art reflects these forced sexual realities. Through this analysis, the trafficking of captive women can be traced in the imagery through scenes of capture, transport, and trophy or triumph display. Key words: sex trafficking, conquest, wartime rape, imagery

Fettered by your Tresses: The Sexual Agency of Brothel Slaves in the Roman World

Legacies of Slavery and Contemporary Resistance, 2023

In this chapter, I endeavor to identify a range of agentic behaviors attributable to unfree sex workers in the Roman world. Ancient prostitution was almost exclusively maintained by slave women and girls, who tolerated execrable working conditions, daily objectification, and frequent abuse. However, despite the evident tribulations associated with sex work, enslaved prostitutes were not wholly acquiescent, navigating their subjugation with considerable dexterity. Whether adopting beguiling personas, enhancing their appearance, or sharing erotic stratagems, brothel slaves ventured to attenuate the hardships of their profession.

The Trafficking of the Enslaved: Women and Children in the Legal Documents from the Roman Empire

Women of the Past, Issues for the Present Nina Javette Koefoed, Rubina Raja (eds), Brepols, pp. 61-82, 2024

Many women and children suffered enslavement in the Roman Empire. Most of them have left no trace in the historical record. But several dozen are attested by documents that survive on papyrus, wax tablets, and inscribed pieces of wood and bear witness to transactional networks that moved the enslaved from one region to another. The commodified people that they document are overwhelmingly those of women and children, not adult men. In many cases, it is clear that the enslaved were subjected to multiple transactions, often in a short period of time. This paper examines why these facts are of broad significance for how we place Roman slaving practices in a broader global history of slavery.

Marginalized: the reality of being a female prostitute and slave in Imperial Rome

The role of women in the social life of the Roman Empire was always limited, not only by gender, but also by social class. Reaching an unprecedented level of marginalization, they became the victims of a vicious circle in which not only they did not have legal rights, but they were not the owners of deciding or choosing their intimate relationships, reduced to being a simple entity without human attributes, mere property, and a shame to society.

Prostitutes and Matrons in the Roman World (Introduction)

Prostitutes and Matrons in the Roman World is the first substantial account of elite Roman concubines and courtesans. Exploring the blurred line between proper matron and wicked prostitute, it illuminates the lives of sexually promiscuous women like Messalina and Clodia, as well as prostitutes with hearts of gold who saved Rome and their lovers in times of crisis. It also offers insights into the multiple functions of erotic imagery and the circumstances in which prostitutes could play prominent roles in Roman public and religious life. Tracing the evolution of social stereotypes and concepts of virtue and vice in ancient Rome, this volume reveals the range of life choices and sexual activity, beyond the traditional binary depiction of wives or prostitutes, that were available to Roman women.

LUPANAR: RETHINKING THE ROMAN BROTHEL

The study of prostitution in the Roman Empire affords classicists rich insights into issues of gender and sexuality, and even ancient economics. Previous studies, however, have been impeded by the problems archaeologists face in identifying houses of prostitution in the archaeological record. The criteria which archaeologists currently employ, designed by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, rely on the fallacious assumption that all Roman brothels had the same features: crude graffiti, erotic artwork, and stone beds. While historical archaeologists in the United States have successfully identified brothels based on their recovery of profession-related artifacts, they maintain that there is no singular artifact or architectural element that definitively indicates a house of prostitution. Assignations in historical archaeology are the result of comparison studies of the entire assemblage with those of regular domestic households. Despite inadequate publication and recording practices (particularly in archaeology‟s infancy), such an approach is possible for classical archaeologists.